My Master's World, My Own Dreams
by legendofzeldarocks
Summary: Told in the POV of a young blue Pikmin named Tad and a red named Flare. He desires to leave the constant battles, destruction and death of his world and escape to his Master's. With his friends, can he make it out before he's destroied?
1. Chapter 1: A New Life

**Author's Notes: **_Hello, all Pikmin fans! When I was in school earlier today, I had a long study period today. With all my homework completed, I get on a computer and ended up writing this out of boredom. I figured it was worth a try to post on the site, so I save it on a floppy and transferred it onto my computer where I edited and eventually got to posting it. So, let me know what you think, please:_

**My Master's World, My Own Dreams:**

Chapter 1: A New Life

My memory is very unclear about the beginning. But the first thing I can remember is darkness. I felt comfort and pleasure. The pleasure one has when in the ground. You can absorb the energy from the soil effortlessly. I could hear nothing, nor see anything. But I was content… that's the first thing I can recall clearly.

Anyways, I felt tugging and pulling. It drew my attention. Something or someone was taking me from the ground.

I popped from the ground. Compared to the darkness underground, the bright light on the surface was unbearable. I had to close my eyes, making a squeak the hand pulling me up let me down on the ground softly.

The outside environment was warm. I shook my head in surprise. Finally, I could open my eyes. I looked up to a new being. It was a creature, one apparently wearing a huge suit, with some sort of bubble encompassing his head. I thought at first he was also a Pikmin, like myself, only this one looked bizarre. Where his leaf-stock should be, a strange blue glowing light was shinning.

I realized this one was the same one responsible for pulling me from the earth. As any Pikmin's instincts tell one, I knew he was my master.

Apparently, this one was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

He seemed to be talking, though whatever he said, I could not understand.

I was curious about my new master. I decided I better get to know him.

"Hello!" I squeaked, taking a step towards him.

Whatever he language he spoke, he clearly didn't understand me. He took a step back, as if in fear.

"Why are you walking from me, Master?" I asked him in curiosity.

Of course, my blue-stemmed master didn't speak back, but took off in the other direction running.

"Wait!" I shouted. I tried to catch up to him. I thought of it as almost a game. He was running around doing laps around my onion. I think he got tired, because he slowed to a stop.

_"Louie, calm down. It's just a new Pikmin Species…" _I heard a new voice from somewhere, but I couldn't tell what it said or where it came from.

_"Alright, alright." _the blue-stemmed master sighed. _What do I do with this… Pikmin?" _

The new voice from nowhere sighed. _"According to Olimar's report, this is a blue Pikmin, one capable of breathing underwater. This one should help you out in water filled areas."_

I tilted my head in wonder. I couldn't understand a work they where saying whatsoever.

As my new master seemed to be talking to someone, I looked around.

It was a wooded area. The sun shone considerably bright, and there seemed to be an abundance of plant life. Being of Pikmin, I felt like a part of the place.

I noticed five other blue Pikmin, like myself.

"Um… hello." I said, trying to get to know them.

"Ah, another Pikmin. Pleased to make your acquaintance." one of them said. I smiled. Already, I made some friends.

"Oh, I'm Mark." one of them said. He stepped forth. Unlike the other five, he had a bulb on his stem, as opposed to a flower or leaf.

"This is Cascade." Mark said, gesturing to a female Pikmin beside himself. She had a flower on top of her head. She blushed, gave a smile, and waved shyly.

"These others are Froggy, Drips, and Wave."

The remaining three started introducing themselves simultaneously.

"Pleased to meet you. I'd tell you my name, but I don't have one." I said shyly.

"Eh, of course you don't." Froggy said, in a croaky voice. "You where just plucked from the ground."

"So, how do I get a name?" I felt stupid for asking.

"Well, these aren't our actual names. I ain't got none either. Those are our nicknames. We get those from each other depending on how we act." Drips said.

"And how where you named "Drips?"" I asked.

"You don't want to know." Drips sighed.

"I was named Mark because when I attack an enemy, I always hit right on mark." Mark said proudly.

"I'm called Froggy by the sound of my voice." Froggy croaked.

"I'm called Wave because my stalk waves in the wind… does that sound stupid?" Wave asked.

"No." I said. "So, how where you named Cascade?"

"Sometimes, names are just thought up in the spur of the moment." She said.

"Hm… what should mine be…?" I said out loud.

"You certainly ask a lot of questions." Mark said.

"I'm sorry. I'm rather new." I said.

"That's okay. I was just as curios when I was plucked." Mark said.

"Oh! I have an idea!" Cascade said.

I was beginning to tell that Cascade was a cheery one of this bunch.

"He's a newborn, so he's like a Tadpole in a frog's life!" she said.

Being water based Pikmin, they seemed to know quite a lot about it.

"So, why don't we call him "Tadpole?"" She asked.

"Um…" I thought about it. "I like it, I suppose."

"Are you kidding me, Cassy?" Drips said. "That's dumb!"

"I thought it sounded nice." she said.

"Take it easy, _Drip-Drop!" _Mark said.

"My name is Drips! I hate it when you call me that!" he said.

I felt so guilty. I had just arrived and I had already started a fight. I looked down.

Mark noticed my depressed attitude.

"Oh, hey! Brighten up!" he said. "Do you want to be called Tadpole?"

"It sounds a little formal…" I said.

"No biggie. That could be your full name, but simply "Tad" would make a better nickname?" Cascade asked.

"Hm… I like it." I said truthfully.

"Very well then. I guess we can add Tadpole, AKA Tad, to our group now." Froggy said.

They where interrupted by a whistle.

The other five blue Pikmin ran to the blue leader's side. I followed behind, assuming it to be a regrouping order of sorts. I noticed he had about ten other blue Pikmin with him.

_"I've regrouped them." _our master said.

_How many do you have under command?" _the seemingly disembodied voice asked.

_"Uh… fifteen." _our master said.

_"That should be enough. Get the treasure within the body of water, proceed back to me. Time is running out." _

Our master looked around the area for some reason. We noticed him walking towards something in the water.

"What is he doing?" I asked.

"Since I've been born, this one and another master are working to collect various items." Mark said.

"Like a treasure hunt." Wave said.

"I sounds fun!" I said.

"It's a lot more work then you would think." Wave said. "Battling monsters, collecting stuff, and growing our numbers… just a part of daily life."

I looked at him with wider eyes. "It does sound dangerous."

"Yep. Some of us sometimes don't make it." Drips said.

"Don't scare him!" Cascade said.

"You always have to be the nice one, _Cassy_." Drips said.

"I try to be helpful, _Drip-Drop." _she said.

Drips started growling.

But they where interrupted by another whistle. Some of the others started gathering around a shiny stone in the water. I found this as a cue and followed. All of us grabbed it. It felt smooth and looked nice: a deep blue to match our Pikmin color.

We lifted the gem and started walking.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To the mother ship." Mark said.

"What's that?"

"Is the strange looking craft that the leaders stay in." Cascade said.

"Who is this other leader?" I asked.

"He is the red stemmed one. From our observations, he appears to be our Master's Master." Mark said.

"Nerd." Drips said.

"Don't make me say it again." Mark said.

We said nothing else. We dragged the gem from the water onto dry land. I was a little disappointed: I loved the water. It felt nice to be in.

I noticed we where moving to a clearing. There was two other of our Pikmin ships: Red and Yellow. There was another one that looked similar to my master, only shorter and with a red stem: I assumed him as my master's master. There didn't seem to be any other Pikmin out of their own ships.

We came to a spot where some strange light was shinning from a different looking ship: I assumed this as the "Mothership."

We carried the gem to the ship's beam of light. The gem started to feel lighter. It where as if it where floating in midair, so we let go.

The observed the top of the Mothership open up. The gem floated into the ship's hull. A second later, the top closed again.

_"Mission accomplished Caption." _the blue stemmed one said.

_"You where a bit longer then I expected to be, but haste makes waste I suppose." _the red stemmed one said.

_"Now evaluating treasure's worth…" _the strange voice said again.

But this time I determined the source: the Mothership was talking! Was it alive?

_"…85 pokos!" _the ship said.

The leaders seemed satisfied.

_"We've done enough for the day. I suppose we should retire before night falls." _the red leader said.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_Yeah. I'm not sure if I will update anytime soon. Please review so I can decided whether I should. Thank you for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2: Enemy Territory

**Author's Notes: **_Yep. I've decided to write another chapter for this story. Now, the real story begins. Oh, and if you see words in bold italics, that means someone is thinking._

Chapter 2: Enemy Territory

Daybreak. I awoke quietly. I was surrounded, by …oh say, 20 blues.

We where in our ships. My ship was blue, corresponding with our color. The interior was perfect for us. The area was about filled out our arms in water. Like I've said, I love the water. It's relaxing and cleansing: a good reward for a day's work in my opinion.

"Oh, hello!" Mark said.

I looked over and saw the same blues I met earlier. "Hello." I said shyly. I decided to join them.

"So, what do we do today?" Froggy asked.

"Probably the usual." Cascade said. "I wonder where our leaders brought us today?"

"Hopefully someplace wet." Mark said.

I nodded.

We all noticed the door to our ship open up. Dim light shone in. It must have been the exact crack of dawn.

"My. Our leaders waste no time." I said.

"That's why they'll lead us to prosperity." Drips said.

* * *

I followed the others outside of the doors. I noticed however, the doors shut again after only we walked out. No other blues had accompanied us.

I looked up and saw the blue leader starring down at us.

_"So, I think I've got them." _the blue leader said.

"_Six?"_ the red one asked.

_"Yes." _the blue one replied.

I noticed as they talked, the surroundings. This place was different. It was COLD! I looked and saw snow falling from the sky. The land was already covered in snow.

If that wasn't enough of a surprise, I noticed some other Pikmin behind the red leader. Unlike us, however, these where different. He had red Pikmin and yellow Pikmin behind them.

Our two groups starred at each other.

**_"Our first encounter…" _**I thought. **_"Mark told me about them. The reds have long noses, so he was right. They are also supposed to be fire resistant? I don't get that… then there are those yellows? My, what big ears! It must make them more aerodynamic, though. They should be electric resistant… good to know if there's lightning…"_**

_"Alright." _the red leader said. _"Six blues, fifteen reds, fifteen yellows."_

"Why are there more of them then us?" I asked Mark.

"Because we're a new blue tribe. We don't have great numbers, so I suppose he is conserving us."

_"Gentlemen, the time has come again for treasure hunting." _the Mothership said. _I have detected a cavern in the distance worth excavating. But in order to get there, you must use the blues to drain the river." _

I hadn't the slightest idea about what they where saying.

The red leader led us all. The blue leader behind him, with the rest of us in tow. As we walked down the cold path, our Pikmin groups started getting closer together.

Random conversations began. I heard some nearby red Pikmin talking to a yellow. Mark seems to be joking about something with a red.

I didn't say anything. I was new, so I didn't want to get started off on the wrong foot.

* * *

Nearly all of the others where in some conversation. However, we came to a stop at a river.

_"Now, take them in." _I heard the red leader said.

The blue leader nodded. He signaled us to follow him. As blues, we where capable of swimming. The other Pikmin seems nervous about the water. I didn't really get why they where afraid of it… oh well, their loss.

"Hey." Cascade said as she swam. "I bet I'll get there before you!" she shouted to drips.

"You're on!" he said.

He and Cascade rapidly began swimming. I watched as Mark and Wave joined in. Froggy took in the rear.

"C'mon, you get a head start!" he shouted angrily.

I was saddened. Though I wanted to join them, I was too slow. I suppose you need to be experienced to swim? I felt a little bad… I'd just have to wait until it was over.

I noticed the blue leader come to a stop. He directed us to a large rock imbedded into the Earth.

I understood what he meant. He wanted it gone.

He lifted us one by one onto it's top.

I started pounding my leaf on it. It was strange. When I started, I suddenly felt rage. It where as though I hated this rock. BANG, BANG!

The rock moved slowly. It shifted to the right. The rest of us let go and dropped into the water.

I was suddenly surprised. The water we where in was declining. I felt it vanishing. I landed my two little feet onto the dry ground. The remaining of the water spiraled through a crack where the rock was.

It was gone.

"Bummer. Party's over." Drips said.

I saw the red leader with the other ones behind him.

_"Here we are." _he said.

* * *

We progressed further, until we reached a strange hole in the ground. There was a bizarre glow coming from it.

"I don't like this a bit." Wave said.

I watched as the leaders jumped in. I followed, along the rest of the Pikmin.

The drop was a big thrill. I didn't say anything during the fall, but the other Pikmin where almost cheering. This area was dark. We all landed on our feet upon reaching the floor.

It was warmer then up on the surface, probably because of an internal heat source somewhere. But it felt rather dry, so that was also disappointing.

I was surprised to see the Mothership follow us in, or rather, it's head part. I had no idea it was capable of leaving itself.

_"Be careful, adventurers. Though I possess no emotion or feelings, my sensors indicate danger here."_ the Mothership seemed to be going on about something.

_"Yes, yes." _the red leader said in a complaining voice. _"I feel confident we should be fine down here."_

So, I assumed it was time to start. Almost immediately, they split us into two groups. I did a count of our new groups: 8 reds, 7 yellows, 3 blues.

"How much do they plan to accomplish if they keep decreasing our numbers?" a red said angrily. "How foolish."

"Aw, lighten up, Flare. Maybe we can get to beat up some beasts! That always cheers you up doesn't it?" another red said.

"Beasts?" I asked. I went unnoticed.

"I still feel that they are lacking in numeral tactics. I fail to understand the concept of their strategy." the red Pikmin, apparently named Flare.

"What's the big deal. We come, we see, we concur. Let's just go and beat up some of those beasts."

"What beasts?" I asked.

"Oh, you never fought before?" another red asked.

"Should I have?" I asked.

"Incredible. The leaders haven't even trained the young Pikmin for battle?" Flare asked.

I could tell this particular Pikmin was very angry. Unlike the others, he had a serious expression on his face. Not very pleasant.

"Then I suppose you shall experience battle, first hand." Flare said.

I found out what they meant by beasts. I saw about three huge creatures flying in the air. But these did not possess wings, like most flying creatures. Instead, they had fins. They apparently used some form of low density air to stay afloat.

I could only tell that these flying creatures seemed to be just relaxing. Not much amiss.

"So, now what?" I asked.

"Now we beat 'em 'till they pop!" a yellow shouted.

"Why, they didn't do anything." I asked.

"Young foolish blue." Flare said. "Battle is a crucial element in survival. We can't live without gaining carcasses and beasts for increasing our numbers. But because they are blowhogs, when they pop, they'll become to small to use… but they are still in the way."

"Can't we just run past them?" I asked.

"Very unwise." Flare said. "If you are too succeed, then anything besides the leader or other Pikmin that moves is the enemy. And you must destroy them _all._"

The blowhogs noticed us. The first two came at us. I watched them come closer to us.

It was at that moment, the blue leader started throwing Pikmin on top of the first one. I wasn't thrown yet, but I watched the battle. The first blowhog was in clear pain, as it screeched and fell to the floor.

But the second one decided to act: it was taking a deep breath. "Uh, oh." I said.

It exhaled a gale force wind, throwing many of the Pikmin off of the first blowhog.

But the first blowhog apparently had enough. It looked very weak, and struggling to sat alive. It's mouth opened, and all of it's internal air was released. It shrieked and flew about. By the time it lost all of it's air, it was gone.

It was a horrific sight. The battling was the most grotesque part of it.

I noticed the second blowhog was enraged. It took in another breath, and released a stronger wind upon the Pikmin. They hit the floor, some loosing their flowers to the winds.

The blue leader apparently had enough. He took those same Pikmin and tossed them onto the second one.

Thus started another gruesome fight: punching, whacking, ripping, scratching. All of these things onto the defenseless blowhog. It took no time at all before it ruptured and vanished.

The last one looked terrorized. It flew away in an attempt to escape.

"Pathetic." Flare said. He jumped into the air, and managed to strike it's right side. It gave a shout of pain, and for a good reason. It left a very large scrape on it.

Flare fell and hit the floor. The blowhog was too far away, though, and quickly vanished into the shadows.

"Let that be a scarring reminded to the enemy. All shall fear my wrath." Flare said.

Just like that, I had seen the most disturbing scene in my two day life. I thought that this was a upsetting fight, but had no idea what was in store…

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_So, that's that. Please REVIEW!_


	3. Chapter 3: Sky

**Author's Notes: **_I'm back, yet again. Sorry for the delay, I've been busy doing school stuff. Oh, and thank you, Hrainian, for the positive reviews! (did I spell that right?) This time, I've come with a new chapter filled with more action. I'm sorry if it is a bit smaller, but it should be okay. You'll see more character actions, but so far in the story, it's still kind of like introduction._

Chapter 3: Sky

Oh, after the battle like that, I thought I had seen the worst of it. But I was far from right.

After the brutal fight with the blowhogs, continued along the path. Maybe it wasn't so bad. As found a great amount of treasure. Jems, diamond, any type of glowing rock you could find was on the path. I could see the brightness of the gems reflected in the blue leader's satisfied eyes.

It took a while to collect all of it, and when we did, the other pilot arrived with the rest of the Pikmin.

_"What is your status?" _the red leader asked.

_"I have found an abundance of treasure. I believe the treasure gauge has deactivated on this sublevel." _the blue leader said.

_"You are already getting better at this. Now, we should keep going deeper." _the red leader said.

They brought us to another hole.

"Oh no, not more." I sighed.

"More training. More battles. More spoils of the insufficient beasts await me below us." Flare said. I looked over to him. How could be looking forward to this?

We jumped and dove down the hole.

* * *

This floor was much darker, but it felt secure. 

The red leader walked away from the blue, who held all of the Pikmin. I watched him walk into the shadows alone.

"This is awful." I said out loud.

"It's life. We're born, then we fight, then when die inside a monster's mouth. Just appreciate it." Mark said.

I couldn't believe him.

The red leader returned from the shadows.

"_Not much here. No enemies, but there are some electric traps, and Ivory and Violet Candypop flowers." _the red leader said.

_"So, I guess we're getting some purples and whites?" _the blue leader asked.

As we walked, I saw three violet, giant flowers ahead of us.

"What are those?" I asked.

"They transform us into whatever color Pikmin the flower is." Mark explained.

_"Send in 5 yellows, five reds, and two blues. We will be fine like so." _the red leader said. _"We only need five whites."_

I watched as the blue leader started picking up Pikmin nearby. He started throwing them into the violet flowers. They gave up small surprised yelps as the flower clamped on them, looking as if it was swallowing them.

I saw the blue leader coming near me. I wasn't ready to be purple yet, I was still getting used to blue. However, he suddenly grabbed Mark.

"What? No, I don't want to be purple, I like blue!" Mark shouted.

The blue leader didn't even hear Mark. I watched as he flew into the flower, to be swallowed by it.

I suddenly watched as the flower started spitting out purple seeds.

"They are transformed into infant Pikmin?" I asked.

"Yes and no." Cascade explained. "It's sort of like reincarnation. But these seedlings will remember everything about themselves from their previous Pikmin experience."

The blue leader started plucking at the Purple stems. I watched as Mark came out, with a purple body. He had lost his gills, and his body was twice as large.

The new Mark approached us in sadness.

"Looking good, Mark." Drips joked.

"I feel like I've had too much pollen." he groaned.

_"Alright, we have some new whites and purples. We need to keep moving." _the red leader spoke to the blue.

I wish that for once I could understand a word they would say.

"What do you think they are saying?" I asked.

"Maybe they are thinking about a battle strategy." another blue said near me.

Suddenly, I saw a shadow forming underneath us.

"RUN!" Froggy called out.

I ran as fast as my little feet could go. About a second later, a huge bulborb fell from the ceiling.

Flare didn't wait for a signal from the leaders. "ATTACK!" He ordered, pointing to the massive beast.

"Not again!" I sighed.

The Pikmin charged, leaving the confused leaders behind.

I watched Flare reach it first. He jumped from the spot and kicked the bulborb n midair. He landed on the floor. Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped again, this time kicking off the bulb orb's massive body, then kicked off a nearby wall to gain altitude, and then back towards the beast. He managed to nail in directly in the eye.

Flare seemed to be rather athletic. His intellect concerned me too. I knew this was no ordinary Pikmin.

The rest of the group finally caught up. I lost sight of Flare when the entire crowd surrounded the monster.

The monster was hurt, and clearly angry. It lowered it's head and chomped down. It caught a few in it's large mouth.

"NO!" I shouted I started running to it, but Cascade grabbed my leaf and stopped me.

"It's everyone for themselves in this war. We have to defeat it, but we can't recklessly be heroes and save them like that!" she said.

"But they are going to die!" I shouted. I realized it was too late, when I saw the leafs, flowers, and a bulb get sucked into it's mouth, followed by terrible muffled screams. Then, the chilling part came when the screaming abruptly stopped and I saw five whisps flying from the bulborb into the sky.

I was stunned. "Are they-"

"Yes. I hate this too, but we have no choice. Do or die." Cascade said. "But know those who perish never go forgotten. They shall all be avenged." with that, she ran back into the battle.

"There must be an alternate way out." I said, unnoticed by everyone in the chaos. I could see the leaders where in a futile attempted to calm everything down.

I had just about had it. I was hiding from the fight. I couldn't bear the thought of killing, seeing a close up of death, or loosing my own life.

All of that changed in an instant. I saw it's gaping mouth open again. It was going to swallow another innocent. I was horrified when I saw a Pikmin in front of it, a yellow. It was a girl, crouching down on the floor whimpering as the jaws reached closer.

"Run!" I shouted to her.

She was too scared to move.

I shouted and ran ahead. The other Pikmin watched in amazement. I was very close towards the monster now.

The yellow shrieked, assuming it would be her last. I managed to jump in the way, pushing her away at the last second. I wasn't sure if I hurt her, but at least she was safe.

I felt the hard chomping mouth grab me instead. I shrieked and cried out as it lifted my into the air, as if in satisfaction.

A loud scream refocused my attention. The monster screamed, reopening it's mouth and letting me fall. I hit the floor, bruised, but alive.

I looked back up to see a blow on it's side. Flare has apparently killed it. It's remaining eye shut as it started to fall.

"In my path!" I shouted. I picked up the yellow Pikmin, who had apparently been knocked out when I pushed her away. I ran as fast as I could, until the monster fell right next to me and died fully.

I laid the yellow down on the floor. Other yellows ran towards her, all female. She groaned and opened her eyes.

"What? I'm not dead?" she asked.

"Yeah, this guy here saved ya! It was totally sweet!" one of the females said. The others crowded around me.

"What a hero!"

"He's a hunk!"

"He's so cute!"

I must have been very red, because they started hugging me. "Hey, hey!" I shouted.

"What's the matter? Can't we give ya some gratitude?" one of the yellows asked, clinging onto me.

"You're getting a little close, don't you think?" I asked.

The yellow I had saved was covering her face as she laughed nearby.

I was so embarrassed. Some where laughing around me, other jealous. I just wanted them off me.

They finally released me, and I was able to breath again.

"Sorry about them. They're very friendly." the yellow one I saved said.

"I noticed." I laughed, rubbing my face. "Are you okay?"

"I should be. Thanks for that. Though, that kinda hurt." she said. "The next time you save me, could you push a little softer?"

I was glad to see she had a sense of humor after such a traumatic experience. "I'll be sure to remember."

"Oh, I'm stupid." she said, slapping her head. "My name is Sky. I was named after the skies that we yellows can reach."

Yellows had large ears, like wings. This made them very aerodynamic, and if they jumped, they could gain a lot of air.

"I'm Tadpole, but my friends call me Tad." I said.

"Nice to meet you Tad." she said. "Thanks a lot."

_"I think that's the last of it!" _the blue leader said from afar. I noticed the leaders, along with a few other Pikmin had just loaded the rest of the treasures into the Mothership pod.

_"Alright. My sensors indicate the next level is the last. Be warned that the next one is very Dangerous." _the Mothership pod said.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_Yep. That's that for this one. Let me know what you think about it._


	4. Chapter 4: Empress of the Cavern

**Author's Notes: **_Ah, a new reviewer! Thanks for the compliment, Upgraded Arwing! Hm… well, I was in a good mood when I wrote this, and the review pushed me into writing this next chapter ahead of what I thought before, so here you are!_

Chapter 4: Queen of the Cavern

That was it. The next hole was the last. Or so I was told by Flare. He seemed to really know what he was doing. He's intelligent, strong, but a little dark at times.

_"I have no idea what may be in store for us down there." _the red leader explained to the blue. _"Stay alert, we cannot afford any mistakes."_

With that, we started to explore the cave. It was a considerably dark chamber.

"What's down here?" I asked Cascade.

"I'm not sure." she said.

"I hope we don't have to battle again. I'm still kinda shook up from that last experience." Sky commented.

"Don't be cowards." Flare said. "If we must fight, then do it to the best of your ability."

"Oh, by the way. Thank you for saving me back there." I said.

"Shut your mouth, you little infant. I only did it because we needed the treasure. And if we lost numbers to drastically, our forced would be too weak for future combat. Next time, don't do something so utterly foolish." Flare demanded.

"Hey, he was thanking you!" Mark said.

"There are monsters down here you idiot." Flare spoke almost without emotion. "Silence, or we shall loose the advantage of a surprise attack."

We all stopped talking.

The red leader divided us up. I watched as the red leader took the reds and purples. The blue leader took the blues, yellows, and whites.

"I guess they are trying to tactically use our troops." Cascade noted. "You see, reds and Purples are the strongest of us all, so they are best at direct attacks. However, we have more tactical ability."

"Like you can breathe water, and we can fly, and the whites can breathe poisonous gasses."

"What types of traps are here?" I asked.

"No water, so you will probably not be needed." Sky said. The yellows can get high attacks down, so we will probably be used. The whites… well, there is a grim chance our leaders will resort to sacrificing them."

"Sacrificing? You mean killing?" I was appalled. "What could be so important to kill a team member for?"

"They are also poisonous. If they are ever eaten, the enemy will take on too much poison to fight." Cascade said.

"That's horrible." I said.

"But sometimes it must be done." Cascade said.

"I still don't like the very idea!" I said.

Sky nodded in agreement.

"But it must be done at times. There is no point crying over what cannot be saved."

We where interrupted by a loud roar from the distance of the cave.

"What is heaven's name?" Sky asked.

"The red leader must have found the master of the cave." Drips cut in. "Maybe if we're lucky, we won't need to fight."

There sounded tons of screaming sounds from the Pikmin somewhere in the cave.

I watched as the red leader flew from behind a huge rock, landing on his back.

"No!" I shouted. The blue leader led us to the body of the red one. He looked terrible. For some strange reason I can't explain, it looked like electric sparks where flying from him.

_"Your suit has been damaged! We have to go back!"_ The blue leader shouted.

_"We can't! That monstrosity is blocking the only way out. Now go back into hiding, we don't need anymore deaths!" _the red leader shouted.

BANG!

I watched something squirming in the darkness. I gasped. I could truly see what it was, but I could hear terrifying screams.

I screamed. I didn't want to fight, but I had to save my friends.

I ran into the darkness in the direction of the screams.

"TAD!" most of the blues called back for me to return.

"I have to save them!" I shouted back.

"Then I'm going!" I heard Sky.

I looked and saw her running behind me.

"Sky, are you sure?" I asked.

"It's my way to repay you!" she shouted.

As we rounded the corner, I saw exactly what we where up against.

It was what I learned late on to be an Empress Bulbax. How could I describe it. It was like an enormous worm, with a bulbax face. definitely female, because of all the infant bulbaxes nearby.

I saw the purples and reds fighting for their own lives.

As I watched, I saw it began to roll on the floor.

"Run, It's crush you!" Sky shouted beside me.

"What?" I asked.

I saw the monster began to roll on the floor, flattening every Pikmin in range.

As it twirled on the floor, I saw a red Pikmin still clinging to it's side. However, it jumped and let go just in time.

"That must be Flare. He's the only red I know to fight that tactically." I noted.

Flare just happened to land alongside us.

"The fools can't even escape!" Flare said. "How pathetic!"

"Give us a break!" I heard Mark say. "I'm a purple, we can't run that fast!"

"They stay out of the way, and let the true fighters work." Flare shouted, rushing back into the fray.

"He's so inconsiderate." Mark said.

"But he knows what he is doing." Sky said.

It must of looked a little awkward, one blue, one yellow, and one purple standing and watching on the sidelines.

"But we have to do something, or else more might die!" I said.

"What do you have in mind?" Mark asked.

"I… uh…" I was lost in words.

"We can't go in without thinking." Mark stated. "We must devise a plan if we-"

"Wait! I have one, but you need to trust me!" I shouted.

"We do." Sky and Mark said.

"Right! Go!" I shouted, pointing towards the monster's face.

Sky ran alongside me. Mark, as I expected, ran behind.

"What are we doing?" Sky asked.

"I don't want to kill this thing, so we are going to blind it instead!" I said. "I saw Flare doing it so we might have a chance!"

"Oh, I see." Mark said.

"Now, pick the both of us up!" I shouted.

Mark picked it up as fast as he could run in his new purple form. I and Sky jumped onto his arms, which, being a purple strong Pikmin, had no trouble doing it.

"Now what?" Mark asked.

"Charge the Empress's face head on!" I said.

We where getting closer and closer. We where lucky that it was distracted by the other red and purples to notice us.

"And now?" Mark asked.

"Ready? 1, 2, THROW!" I shouted.

Mark didn't ask, he just trusted us both in the air. I shouted, and managed to hit the left eye.

Is shrieked out in a loud pain. As a reflex, it started to twist it's body in a different position.

Sky ended up missing all together, now headed for the wall.

"SKY!" I shouted. A loud thud confirmed the collision. I rushed towards her. She was sitting down, with a dazed expression on her face.

"Sky!" I shouted, running to her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" she said with a slur. "How long have you had a clone?"

I raised an eyebrow.

But a loud roar and a gust of wind interrupted us. I looked behind my shoulder to see the face of the empress right in my own. She looked very angry. I apparently ticked it off after taking out one of it's eyes.

I must have been terrified, we both unintentional grabbed each other and screamed.

But before it could kill us, I heard a loud scratch noise.

I looked and saw Flare flying across it's face. He landed on the floor in his tour-de-force.

The monster closed her remaining eye and fell to the floor. Dead.

We let go of each other.

I suddenly felt sorrow. We just killed yet again. Sure, we ahd to survive, but this was intense.

"Must I constantly keep saving you?" Flare asked angrily. "Now, do us all a favor. For punishing you for this deed, you three…" he meant myself, Mark, and Sky. "…take the treasure and haul it back to the Mothership yourself!"

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Sky asked.

"I am an elite. You see, I was born before any other red Pikmin here. Or any at all, for that matter.

"I was lost one day, from my original colony. My only hope was to find a new ship. I searched for years, battling, increasing my skills. I learned to be tough, and kill or be killed."

"You are that old?" Sky asked.

"Listen to me, you idiots. Make a strategy. Know your enemy. Don't rush in before hand. And no one is important before yourselves. That's the only way to survive. Now bring the treasure back." Flare demanded.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_That's it for now. So, things are starting to get underway. New friends, a new rival, and more. Please Review!_


	5. Chapter 5: Waterworld

**Author's Notes: **_I haven't updated this fic in such a long time, and I figured now would be a good time to do so! I apologize, but I've been busy with my other fic, and school hasn't helped either. Nonetheless, here is my next update:_

Chapter 5: Waterworld

I felt warmer as I walked out of the onion that morning.

Hopefully, things would not have been so extreme as they where the previous day. I didn't realize it then, but I was very wrong.

My eyes met sunlight, a pleasant sight for any Pikmin. As my little body stood by the rest of the blues, I examined the surrounding place.

It was very beautiful. The sun, arising from the horizon sparkled so very nicely on the water. I realized we where completely surrounded by water. The small waves lapping against the shores. Small little critters scurrying underneath the surface, and the grazing feel of the gently breeze against my leaf. It was paradise.

"I… think I've made it to my dream world." Cascade stated.

"It's okay." Mark said simply.

"You used to love the water, what gives?" Froggy asked.

"I'm… well, different now." Mark said calmly.

I gave a look at his new, massive purple form. _"He has indeed changed."_ I thought.

"Hey there!" I heard Sky call. I turned my little head and saw her running towards me.

"Hello." I said shyly. "Have a good rest?"

"Yeah. I dreamt I was floating on a cloud…" she said. "This place looks cool."

"I love it." I said. "If I could, I'd swim for the entire day."

"…well, we don't have all day. The leaders brought us out here for something important. It will be a day of work." Drips added in.

"Can't you just enjoy the scenery?" Cascade asked.

As they spoke, I turned around. Looking into the red Pikmin section, I spotted a familiar face. It was Flare, looking the same glum way he always did, with his arms folded. I admit it, I eavesdropped on him. There was another red Pikmin, apparently female, approaching him.

"Hey, Flary!" she said, with a happy tone.

Flare's eyes shifted to look behind himself. "Hm?"

"Would you mind if I come along today?" she asked.

"I'd rather not." Flare said.

"But Flary! Just once, I want to be with you! Just one day?" She asked.

Flare's angry expression increased, as he refused to look at her in the face. "Haven't we already talked about this, Ember? I don't want to be with you. I don't even _like _you."

The female red, who was apparently names Ember, sighed, looking down. Where she was once happy was replaced with sadness. "…why are you so mean?"

"I have too many things to do to spend time with things as pointless as relationships." Flare said.

Ember looked away. "Please… just give it a chance."

"Tad?" Mark asked.

I suddenly snapped back into attention, turning to face Mark and the others.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"…you seemed troubled?" Mark asked.

"…don't worry I'm fine." I said. "Just a little sidetracked."

I looked upwards and saw the two leaders standing next to each other. I and the others looked at them.

_"This time we are prepared." _the red leader spoke to the blue. _"100, 20 for each species."_

_"Okay."_ the blue one responded. _"So, where too?"_

_"There's an interesting item I saw as we descended today. I want to inspect it." _the red one replied.

With that quick conversation, the leader looked at us and blew a whistle.

That was our cue to join together. Our groups mixed up, all 100 of us.

As we walked down the pathway along the side of the water, some of them began to sing. It was without lyrics, more of a vocalized song. I didn't join in because I didn't know the melody, but I smiled.

As we walked, I looked into the water. I saw my reflection as I proceeded down the path. I noticed I looked small compared to most of the others. My little leaf puny as opposed to the mighty flowers most of the others had.

"Hey, Tad." Sky said again.

"Oh, hello." I said.

"You mind if I ask you something?" She asked.

"You just did. But go on." I responded.

Sky replied with a light laugh. "How old are you?"

"A couple of days." I said truthfully. I was among the youngest of the Pikmin there.

"Oh, that's interesting." Sky said. "I'm about the same age."

"That's a coincidence." I said. "…why'd you ask?"

"Just trying to pass the time, I guess." She said. "I think we're going to have a day off, for once."

I heard Mark chuckling behind me. I turned back and looked at him. "What's funny?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Mark said, with a laugh as he spoke.

"Oh really?" I asked.

"Sky and Tad. Who'd thought it?" Froggy asked.

I stopped suddenly. My face was as red as Flare's. I turned around, as Sky suddenly did at the same time.

"We're not together." we both said at the same time.

Froggy smirked. "Sure…"

"Cut it out, you're being a jerk!" Wave shouted.

"Well, that's certainly a nice thing to say." Cascade said. "So much for a day off."

"C'mon, what's the hold up!" some of the Pikmin shouted. Sky, Mark, Cascade, Drips, Froggy, Wave and I looked away from each other, to see the entire group was stopped.

"Sorry…" Sky said, as we caught up.

_"Strange."_ the red leader said. _"I wonder what that was about."_

_"It's probably nothing. Let's go." _the blue one stated.

We pressed onwards, moving further along the waterside. It was a miracle that we hadn't been attacked by something yet. This was perhaps the best day since I came. A day for rest and talking with friends in a soothing environment. It was almost perfect.

_"There, I see it!" _The red leader shouted. The group came to a halt, as we all spotted a gleaming gem atop a hill.

However, to my dismay, there was a huge flaming monster sleeping in front of it.

"Oh man!" Froggy shouted. "Looks like the party's over."

_"Judging by the monster, I think they will send the red Pikmin out." _I thought. I looked over towards the red group. I spotted Flare standing there, arms still folded. Nearby him, Ember stood, sadly looking at him. I couldn't help but look a little worried, think they where about to battle.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_Eek… short. Sorry for the length of this one. The next chapter will be longer and have more action, so it will be better. I should get it done sooner then I got this one done. I had writer's block before, but now I have a few ideas. In the meantime, please review._


	6. Chapter 6: The Firestorm Beast!

-1**Author's Notes: **_Thanks for the positive reviews! Sorry for that delay, like I said, it'd a bad combo of writer's block and school interference. This time, I thought I'd mix things up and add another character's perspective. This chapter will be told through Flare's eyes._

Chapter 6: The Firestorm Beast!

_Flare's POV:_

The huge flaming creature was snoring softly. The red leader had taken us red from the other Pikmin. We traveled towards the beast. I looked back towards the blue leader who had all of the others. They looked so cowardly. Such pathetic fools… though at the time, Tad seemed unlike the others. A leader, a hero… not that many blues had those qualities. Though he is perhaps one of the most foolish of Pikmin I have ever met. Runs into situations without even thinking.

Though no Pikmin in all of this colony was more annoying then Ember. What a pest! She never gives me a moment's piece. Just what I needed was something to get rid of that annoying fan-girl.

Though she seemed silent now. Perhaps intimidate by the flaming beast. I wasn't sure, nor did I care about her. All I knew was that a battle was inevitable.

Though for some reason, the red leader kept us moving very slowly around the creature.

"No sudden moves." I said, thinking the leader had a plan.

"You're so brave." Ember said back to me.

I gave her a look. "Why do you insist on commenting on everything I say?"

She said nothing back. I assumed I had scared her with my question. Finally, some silence. Still, I wanted to fight this creature. I waned more experience. I needed it. I needed to be ready and alert. Anything to prevent what happened before…

But I digress. The leader brought us to a gem shaped object.

"This has got to be it!" another red said.

I scoffed, and turned my head up to the sky. _"Of course this is it, idiot." _I thought.

The red leader began to instruct us. Being loyal, I ran to the gem's side and grabbed it's large rim. Others began to do the same.

I waited for the slower ones to encircle it. No wonder, ember was the last to join in. She has got to be the most foolish of them all.

We finally got enough strength to lift the gem. It gleamed in the reflection of the sun above as we began to bring it over the grassy plains.

Though perhaps, it seemed to be just a bit too reflective. Sunlight was flashing in all directions.

"Stop shaking it!" I ordered.

"Who died and made you leader?" Another asked.

I looked down and growled. I know I shouldn't answer the question so literally, but it did remind me of something that occurred a while back.

Though time was too short to think too much about it.

_"Oh no…" _the red leader said.

He looked distressed for certain. Something was amiss.

As we marched on, I turned my head. The reflection of the gem was shinning on the flaming beast. Slowly, it's eyes opened up.

_"NO!" _I thought.

It slowly arose, towering over our small group. It gave a loud roar, the light of the fire illuminating the area.

As it began to move, I heard the red leader frantically whistling for us to abandon the gem and run for it. This was advice I took seriously. I let go of the gem and ran. As I ran, I heard some of the Pikmin screaming. I knew fiery bulb-orbs are fast, but that was remarkable speed. I noticed three out of our twenty dangling from his mouth. I groaned as I watched it devour them quickly and painfully. Three red wisps escaped the beast's mouth, signifying they had been done for.

I looked among the survivors as we ran away from the bulb-orb. The red leader was screaming something to the blue leader. I saw him bring the other Pikmin away from the area. I wasn't sure, but I assumed the red leader was ordering an evacuation.

"What do we do?" Another red asked me.

"We must fight!" I shouted. "We cannot outrun it!"

I knew I was right. It was big, fast, and powerful. In a foul swoop, I watched it's fiery mouth open wide. It clamped down, barley missing me. Though it succeeded in the attack. Two more where sucked into it's mouth screaming.

The red leader suddenly stopped running. He must have been thinking what I thought. There was no avoiding it, we had to strike back.

The red leader began to pick us up and throw us on the monster. I was picked up and hurled through the air right at the monster's back. I felt the wind whipping against me. The thrill of the battle. It was enjoyable and dangerous at the same time… it felt like an extreme sport at times.

I landed on it's flaming back. Being a red, I didn't feel any pain or burn like other Pikmin would have. I kicked it and attacked it. Nothing like the thrill of battle at all.

I felt it trying to resist my attacks. I must have been getting through. The great leviathan continued to shaking, harder and harder. My grip was loosening. I knew I'd go flying in moments, but tried to get every last attack I could.

That seemed to really tick off the fiery bulb-orb. I found myself up in the air, flying higher and higher, spiraling.

I came to a hard crash on the ground. I felt dirt all over myself. I groaned and tried to get back up.

_"I can't believe I let my guard down…" _I thought. _"I should have landed on my feet." _

I turned my head towards the monster. I gave a groan as it threw the other 14 survivors off itself.

_"We haven't done that bad either. I think we can handle this." _I thought.

I looked at the red leader, who was running around trying to regroup us. Once again, I followed and ran to his side loyally.

Though the others where a bit less lucky. I saw the monster bit down upon the other reds. I watched it with quite a large catch. 5 Pikmin had been caught by the monster's large mouth.

_"I don't believe this. One battle and the reds have already been reduced to 10." _I thought. _"This might not work!"_

"Flare! This is horrible!" I heard Ember said.

Apparently, she was among the survivors.

"I don't know how much more I can take!" She shouted.

"You must. We will fight, and we will win or die trying!" I shouted.

She sighed. "If you want me to, then I will fight to the death!"

She may have been annoying, but at least she was a loyal ally. Did she think of me like a master? Or something else?

I had no more time to ponder over the possibilities. I saw the creature rushing towards us again.

"Oh, great." I said.

The red leader instinctively began to run in an evasive manor. I and the other reds followed behind. The creature dove down and opened it's giant mouth again.

As It chomped down, I heard a familiar scream. It was Ember. I gasped and turned around.

It seemed she wasn't eaten, but panicked and speeding up to avoid the fiery bulb-orb. However, two more had been devoured in the process.

"I don't think we can win!" one of the remaining reds said. "I WAIT TO LIVE!"

"You will follow orders!" I shouted, trying not to jeopardize the group. "We must finish what we started!"

"Yeah, listen to Flare!" Ember shouted.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" the same one shouted.

As he continued to shout, the leader instructed us to make a sharp turn. As we did, the panicking Pikmin failed to notice our change in direction. He ran off on his own. The fiery bulb-orb followed only him.

The red leader stopped. We all watched the flaming beast grab the screaming Pikmin. The 7 survivors watched as he was swallowed whole.

"That fool." I said. "…his sacrifice will not go un-avenged. He managed to distract it."

The rest of sudden ran screaming at the monster. The red leader gasped, realizing we had all abandoned the red leader.

We all reached it's massive form. I jumped at it, with ember nearby me. We both began a rapid succession of attacks. It screamed and flailed in sheer pain. It began to try and shake us off as the struck it rapidly.

This time, I knew the timing better I jumped from it's side and ran a few inches away from the beast. Ember, being the fan-girl that she was followed right behind me.

The other Pikmin failed to escape. I watched them all flying off in separate directions. I heard them screaming as it came after them.

I ran away, fearing for my own safety, until I was hidden behind a rock. I watched it chomp down and devour the others… one by one… it was perhaps the worst sight of my life. To see my allies being devoured and painfully done with.

I closed my eyes and sighed. I listened as the sound of screaming slowly faded. …well, accept for one particular scream.

I looked back at the monster and saw Ember frozen in place. With the others nowhere in sight, she was the next thing on it's menu. Though I hated to do this I knew I couldn't fight it alone.

I took off from the rock and ran in screaming. The monster opened it's large mouth to reveal it's flaming fangs. It gave a loud growl at it charged right at Ember. She gasped and gave a loud, ear-piercing scream.

Lucky for her I needed assistance. I jumped and collided into her. She gave a grunt as we landed on the dirty ground and began to roll from the inertia. The monster growled again in aggravation, the came charging for us both.

I saw a new obstacle ahead. A deadly one. We where both rolling right towards the edge of the platform. Beyond it was a cliff that would lead into a pool of water.

We both screamed as we hit the edge and flew into the air. For a moment, it was like slow motion. I heard the monster trip ad suddenly hit the edge as well. All three of us slowly flew into the water screaming…

* * *

I felt weakened and soggy. As I was slowly able to open my little eyes. I observed the place I was in.

I was washed ashore on the edge of an unfamiliar lake. Ember lay beside me.

I slowly got to my feet and scurried towards her limp body. I picked her up.

"She's out cold, but alive…" I said.

My voice was the only sound, aside from the lapping of the waves against the waterside. It felt like a relaxing, though completely unfamiliar place.

It was just like before, when my old colony got killed off. Now, I knew we where the only survivors of that entire red squadron. I picked ember off the ground. As I walked slowly, her little leaf dragged on the beachside.

"I think we managed to kill the beast." I was thinking aloud. "I can't believe I was so careless to let the others die. Now, I'm alone again."

It didn't make things any better with ember. As I proper her over my shoulder, I groaned. "In such a critical time of battle, why must I have to take care of a weakling like her?"

Nonetheless, it was how things would be. As I walked, her limp arms, legs, and lead waved in the wind. Together, we had become involved with a new quest.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_How was that? The next chapter will switch back to Tad's perspective. I might do more POV switching in the future, depending on who may have a more important role. Please Review, as always._


	7. Chapter 7: The Ivory Twins

**Author's Notes: **_Thank you for the compliments, folks! I may switch POVs frequently, but not too much. Anyway, on with the fic!_

Chapter 7: The Ivory Twins

Tad's POV:

My ears where suddenly overcome by the sound of a scream. Instantly, I realized that was the red leader. I knew he had entered a battle alone with the reds. What happened?

I watched as the red leader ran towards the rest of, panicked.

_"Olimar?" _the blue leader asked. _"Olimar, what happened?"_

The red leader looked frightened. It was at about that time I realized there where no reds in sight.

_"This flaming beast completely killed off my entire red squadron!"_

Though I wasn't sure what they where talking about, It was safe to assume something very serious had happened in their battle. I feared the worst considering no reds where present.

"Where did all the reds go?" Cascade asked.

I could imagine how Flare have reacted to that question.

It was about then where reality began to sink in. The red leader would never have abandoned his troops. That means that…

"Oh no…" Mark said. "The reds didn't make it."

"I refuse to believe that." I said, a little nervous. "…no way could they have all been killed. No."

"Tad, try to face facts." Sky said, obviously trying to console me. "It's bad, yes, but there's no way around it. Not here. This is a place of constant war."

"…no. There was no way they all died." I said, feeling miserable about it. "Come on, Flare of all Pikmin here seems to be the last one I'd expect to be killed."

"Tad… I think this is one of your first times to being here to know of this massacre." Cascade said. "Everyone just gets used to it."

"Yeah, leave it to the newbies to get all sentimental." Wave added in.

"That wasn't nice." Sky said to the blue.

As they went on, I looked towards the two conversing leaders.

_"The monster did die though. It followed the last Pikmin into a lake. Suffice it to assume all of the survivors drown in the lake, including the beast." _the red leader finished his tale.

_"Then at least the gem was okay?" _the blue leader asked. _"Let's at least finish what we started."_

The red leader nodded his head. He turned back to face us Pikmin and gave us a signal. Just like that, we had gone back to the role of the loyal soldiers.

Our group of 80 followed the leaders to the site where a single gem was. The area looked awful, as would any area that underwent war. I kept looking around for any reds, but not a trace remained.

I sighed and looked down. Flare was nowhere in sight. Even I had to face facts. Flare was gone. It was never known what had happened to him. Though he was a true warrior and a smart ally.

* * *

The others where all saddened for the rest of the day. Soon after the ill-fated battle, we got the gem back to the mothership. Still having time to spare, our leaders thought it would b wise to try to increase our numbers for the next battles ahead.

At least, that's what I assume. They had brought us down below the surface of this water world. It was a safe chamber from what I remember, there where very few monsters around. It felt like a recovery area.

_"There doesn't appear to be too much treasure down here." _Olimar said. _"Though if the ship is right, this is the last area we have to search in this sector. We will never have to come back here."_

_"Good." _Louie said. _"Then that should be enough to pay off the dept! I'm going to get such a promotion after this!"_

The place was filled with nectar, a few flower pop buds, and not an enemy in sight.

"Finally, a chance to relax." Mark commented, lying down on the ground.

"If you say so." Cascade said.

"Something have you down?" Drips asked.

Cascade sighed. "If you need me, I will be with the other Pikmin for now."

She got up and slowly proceeded towards the others.

That left Mark, Sky, and myself resting on the ground.

"This has been quite a day." Mark said. "It seems there is more and more action every day."

"I don't like it." I said.

"Really?" Mark asked.

"This constant battling. Death every day." I said. "I don't know just how muck more I can take. I don't what I would do if I lost you guys."

Sky frowned. "Gee, I never thought if it that way. For the most part, our lives have just been do as told, recover things, and rest. That is the way of Pikmin."

"It's always been that way." Mark added in.

"I don't like this though. I mean, look at the leaders." I said.

We turned our little heads to see the leaders conversing with each other.

"They seem happy." Sky said.

"I can only wonder what their world is like." I said. "But I has to be better then ours."

"Maybe that's true. Though we have never been before." Mark sighed, starring up into the cavern's roof.

"Maybe someday, we can escape." I said. "Just leave with them if they ever return home. I would love to see their land. I bet they never have to fight there."

Sky laughed at my statement. I turned to look at her.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You live in a fantasy world, Tad." She said. "No Pikmin has ever left the world."

"We can at least try." I said.

"He has a point." Mark said. "Think of the possibilities."

Sky stopped laughing and rubber her head. "Well… yeah, you may have a point."

"It's good to dream. I keeps one motivated." Mark said. "Go on, maybe someday you will make it there. I'll be supporting you."

"Yeah." Sky said, with a little chuckle. "Me too."

"Thanks!" I said, with a smile. I felt better now knowing I had others to back me up.

_"Okay, we have the treasure! Yes, we can pay of the debt now!" _the red leader said. I wasn't sure what they where saying, but it sounded like great news.

_"Let's just put a few more Pikmin in the ivory flowers and call it a day." _Louie said.

I noticed the red leader taking 5 Pikmin towards an ivory flower. As I peeking at the Pikmin who where to be transformed, I spotted Cascade in the line.

"Guys, look at this." I said.

Sky and Mark looked over. "Cascade's going to be a white Pikmin now?" I heard Sky said.

I watched as the red leader quickly held them up and tossed them all into the ivory flower.

I slowly got up from where I was sitting. I motioned for the other two to follow me to see Cascade.

We ran all the way to where little white stems now emerged from the ground. I came to a halt at the stems. As I looked at each of them waving, I couldn't help but think of the new lives they would now live. Al 6 of them…

"Wait a moment…" I said. "How come there are six stems? He only threw in five."

Sky looked perplexed. "I… don't know. That's strange."

"Look at this." Mark said. He pointed to a very strange pair of stems. They seemed to be coming from the ground in the same place.

"Look, their bases are connected." Sky said.

They seemed to be one stem, but with two branches coming out in a V shape pattern with two leaves, both perfectly symmetrical.

"…no way. Maybe it's Siamese twins or something." I said.

I saw the red and blue leaders where equally perplexed. The blue and red leader both grabbed onto either leaf. Simultaneously, they both began to tug. We all watched in awe as we heard a suddenly snap sound.

Two separate white Pikmin emerged from the earth, landing on the ground in a synchronized fashion. They appeared to be a male and a female.

_"What do you know?" _the red leader asked. _"Twins. This is a first."_

"So… who are you guys?" Sky asked.

"What are you talking about?" they both asked in unison. "I'm Cascade!"

I slowly raised an eyebrow. "Uh…"

Both of the twins slowly peered their little heads at each other.

"OMIGOSH! I DIVIDED!" they both said in unison.

"Which one's the real Cascade?" Sky asked.

"I am!" they both said.

"…Cascade was a girl, so I say it's the girl." Sky said.

"I swear I am!" the female twin said.

"But I am too!" the male one said. "Please believe me!"

"Well it's true." Mark said. "So no we have two Cascades."

"Shouldn't we have separate names?" they both asked.

"This is going to get heard to get used to." Sky laughed. "Names, huh? How about Cassy and Cane?"

"We can try that out." the twin Cascades said in unison.

I couldn't help but laugh because of the way they would speak in perfect unison. They could probably read each others thoughts too. I could tell things where going to get interesting.

"So… how did it fell, to be divided in two?" Sky asked.

"Weird." they both said. "I was just a simple blue girl, just being a normal little Pikmin. Now I'm a set of twin white Pikmin! This is the strangest day of our life."

Suddenly, in the midst of our conversation, I realized it had suddenly gotten quiet.

"Uh, guys!" I shouted suddenly.

"Yeah?' they all asked.

"Where did everyone else go!" I shouted.

It was true. The 5 of us where the only Pikmin in that chamber.

"Oh no, they left us behind!" Sky shouted.

"C'mon, we got to catch up!" Mark said.

* * *

We found our way out of the chamber via a geyser. As we landed on the land, I spotted the sun in an odd positions. I suppose I would not usually be out of the onion this late at night.

"NIGHT?" Mark asked. "Quickly, back to the ship! Don't you know? The leaders leave at night!"

"We well be left behind!" Sky shouted.

"We have to hurry!" I said.

We all began to run towards the landing site. The twin Cascades led in front because they where the fastest. I and Sky where in the middle. Mark, being the heaviest was in the back, struggling to keep up.

"Hey!" Cassy and Cane said at the same time. "What's that?"

I looked up into the sky and saw four streaks of light flying up into the night sky.

"No…" Sky said

We all came to a stop.

"They… left without us. We are stuck here." Mark sighed.

I looked down. With no shelter, no assistance, and nocturnal beasts bound to come soon, I knew things where grim.

_"Yes… the future seems interesting indeed."_ I thought.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_Alright, some twists here. Thank you for reading this chapter, I will try to update soon. Please Review! _


	8. Chapter 8: Preparing for the Journey

**Author's Notes: **_I'm back again, folks! This time, there is a bit of POV swaps here. Anyway, here you are:_

Chapter 8: Preparing for the Journey

Terror was already filling the atmosphere. It seemed like something we never expected. Though we had all become lost, tired, and abandoned. The leaders, the others, everything… it was the five of us against the world.

"…what do we do?" Cassy asked. She grabbed her twin brother. "WHAT DO WE DO!"

"I know just as much as you, I'm confused to!" he shouted back.

"I'm a little scared." Mark said.

"Scared? How about petrified!" Sky asked. "The nocturnal predators are bound to come any minute now!"

As they continued to speak, I looked out at the lave in front of us. On it's gentle waves I could see the reflection of the sunset. The stars where even beginning to show up in the twilight skies above.

"We have to survive." Cane said. "We have to. This can't be it for us."

"…maybe we can." I said. They all turned to look at me.

"Well, I was thinking…" I said. "Most of the beasts of the world are so gargantuan that a small place can provide shelter. Anything small enough to fit in a small shelter should be something five Pikmin can take.

My words seemed to intrigue them, though most of all interest Mark. "That sounds like our best shot, but then where?"

"Let me think for a moment." I said. I began to pace back and forth, letting my blue feet touch the edge of the water. I gave a sigh.

"There are sometimes cracks in walls, right? Maybe if we find a Cliffside." I suggested.

"It's worth a shot." Sky said.

* * *

Flare's POV: 

"_Why doesn't she come to?"_ I thought. It had become an irritating walk. I had been dragging Ember with me for hours now, the sun clearly setting. I could see the stars appearing slowly in the dark purple sky.

Finally deciding enough was enough, I sat down on the grass and let her fall from my hands on the ground.

She looked so pathetic, I recall. She looked like she was still breathing, but very weak, and almost whimpering with every small breath. Pitiful. She was like an anchor that held me back. The sooner she either woke up or died, the better. It made no difference, I didn't care.

By experience, I knew that monsters would soon come. It was only a matter of time.. Though I wasn't worried. To my left, I spotted a tree with a hole in it. Just enough for me to squeeze in. Ember, on the other hand… both of us would certainly not fit in something so small.

Finally, I could hear her mumbling behind me. I turned my head and spotter her getting up from the ground. "…what…where?"

"You finally awoke." I said. "It was about time."

"…Flare?" She asked. "Where are we?" she got to her feet. "What time is it?"

"We are somewhere upstream. It is twilight." I said.

"What?" she sounded scarred. "What if we get left behind?"

"You idiot." I said. "Everyone else is gone. All dead."

She looked mortified. "…what?"

"Nobody else survived the fight. The beat is dead now, though we are the only survivors." I explained.

"Did… you save me?" She asked.

"Yes. I don't know why, but I took you and brought you to a safer place." I said. "Consider yourself lucky that I was willing to save you."

"…thank you. That's the nicest thing you have ever done." she said.

"Don't think I did you a favor." I said. My eyes narrowed as I spoke. "I only did it so that I could have an ally in the battles ahead. When this is done, I don't care what happens to you."

Her face looked terrified again. "Oh…"

"Now listen." I ordered. "We are going to take shelter for the night. I have found a tree that can safely protect one of us."

"…what happens to the other?" she asked.

"I don't care." I said. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to rest. Carrying you around was a waste of my energy."

I began to walk to the tree. I jumped up and clasped the edge of the hole. With a simple and acrobatic swing, I thrust myself into the hole.

"…and where do I go?" she asked.

I groaned. Why did she keep asking questions? "You sleep on the grass."

She gave another whimper as she fell down on the ground. Her little leaf brushed against the grass as she tried to make herself comfortable.

I closed my eyes and sighed. It was about time I got some rest. I small but content smile appeared on my face as I put both hands behind my head. The wind was slowly lapping against me through the open hole. All was peaceful.

But then I heard Ember whimpering. _"What now?" _I thought. I tilted my head and leaned out of the tree. "What is it?"

"…nothing." she said. "Sorry."

I growled and got back in the tree. By now I was angry, very angry, and she knew it. Though I was too tired to deal with her. I'd tell her how enraged I was in the morning. I tried to close my eyes, but before I could, she started to whimper again.

"Okay!" I shouted. I heard her gasp as I poked my head out of the tree. "What is wrong with you!"

She looked terrified at my presence. "I… am sorry, really!" she shouted.

"Not as sorry as you will be in the morning!" …though now I must admit my threat was a little much to say to someone so emotionally traumatized. I watched her collapse on the ground and sob.

"…don't do that. You look weak." I said.

"…I'm sorry." she said. "I only wanted you to like me. That's all I wanted since I was pulled from the earth. Please…"

"What excuse are you using now, you weakling?" I asked, very annoyed. "…what?"

"…I'm sorry." She cried. "Please… I am weak. I'm nothing… I don't deserve to be with you."

At least she wasn't a complete idiot. She understood that part of how I felt. "Listen…" I said.

She looked up from the ground, with the face of a small pathetic child.

"I will let you sleep in here." I said. "I would rather sleep on the ground then put up with your weakness."

She gave a small smile. "You mean that?"

"I will deal with you in the morning." I said, slowly crawling out of the hole, letting myself fall until my nimble feet hit the grass.

I watched her as she ran up, tears streaming from her face. He jumped on me, and gave me a long hug.

"Oh thanks, I'll make it up!" Ember shouted.

"Ember." I said. "I'm soar from that last battle. Let me go."

She released me, with an embarrassed blush on her face. She jumped into the hole in the tree, leaving me with the grass.

"Pleasant dreams, my hero!" she called.

"…you're still annoying!" I shouted back at her.

* * *

Tad's POV: 

I sighed in relief as we discovered a Cliffside. It was huge, though we had found a very small cave. Just big enough to fit us all in.

"I think we found our new home." Sky said.

"…good. Just in time, apparently." Mark commented. By now, we could hear a distant roaring, echoing in a ghastly tone like a ghost.

"C'mon, we don't have any time to loose!" Cassy and Cane said at the same time.

The five of us rushed into the cave an sighed in relief. We where finally safe.

I fell on the rocky ground as soon as I was sure it was safe. I could hear the others are settling down for the night as well.

"…so…" Sky said. "…what do we do now?"

"…we do things like we always do." Mark said. "We fight, we try to find a way back to the leaders…"

I gave a sigh. "And we try to escape. We try to make it to their world, where we will never have to deal with this again…"

The others nodded. I had the feeling they where just as unhappy with this lifestyle as I was. We all knew that tomorrow would be a brand new day… the start of our true journey.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_Yep… a shorter chapter then usual, but next time will be longer. Please review in the meantime_


	9. Chapter 9: Swooping Foes

**Author's Notes: **_Very sorry for the delay, but I've been very busy. Please forgive me for that._

Chapter 9: Swooping Foes

The sun's rays where shinning brightly over the area that morning. I slowly opened up my eyes. I was looking back up at the cave's roof. It was silent for the most part, except for the wind and the running of a nearby river.

I got up slowly and looked at the others. Mark and the twins where still sleeping. Sky was awake too, sitting at the edge of the cave, with her feet in the water.

She seemed calm, as if she where contemplating something important.

At the sound of my feet echoing as I walked through the chamber, she looked back up at me.

"…would you mind if I sat here to rest?" I asked.

She shook her head. With that, I sat down beside her, letting my feet plop into the water. "…are you ready?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"…ready?" She asked.

"As soon as the others wake up, we're going to head out." I said. "It will be the easiest way to find the leaders."

She gave a sign and looked back into the water. Small little fish swum past our feet and we kicked them back and forth. I looked back up for a moment and spotted the sun peaking over the tops of the trees, with it's beams shining back down on us. I looked back toward the tall grass swaying in the winds.

"It's a little scary." Sky said, still looking at her distorted reflection in the water as she kicked her legs.

"…I know." I said. "I've never felt so isolated."

"Still…" She continued. "The fact that we made it through the night safely is no small feat. Very few Pikmin left after dark survive. It's a miracle we're alive."

"Yeah." I said. "Let's not let it go in vain. Let's get back. It's the only chance I have at fulfilling my dreams."

"…sure." She said. "It's our only chance at survival now."

Behind us, I could hear a racket in the cave. I turned around and saw the twin white Pikmin arise from their sleep at the same time. Mark rubbed his head slowly and also arose, making a small thud as he forced himself up.

"Glad to see you guys up." I said. "Are we ready?"

"…I guess so." Mark said, giving a yawn and rubbing his large belly.

"We're set." both of the twins added.

I pulled myself back into the cave, shaking my small feet to get the water off. "…alright, let's get going."

I walked toward the others to go and meet them. Before I decided to say anything, I turned back to note that Sky hadn't followed me.

"Sky, is everything okay?" I asked.

Without looking back at me, she nodded. "I just need about another minute or two, that's all."

I nodded. I suppose it was fear of annoying her that kept me from questioning why.

"So." Mark said, getting my attention. "…what do you plan to do next?"

I sighed and looked down, grabbing my leaf and playing with it a little as I thought. "Um… what to do now?"

I realized we had no real plans at all.

"Let's try to get back to the landing site. Maybe they came back here?" the twins asked in unison.

I was ready with an answer when I suddenly heard a yelp.

All of us turned around and gasped. Sky was no longer there.

The rest of us gasped and ran over to the edge of the cave. "SKY?" I called out.

It where as though she just vanished. At least, that's what I thought at first. There was another shout. We looked back up into the sky and saw it: a huge beast, flying through the air. It looked like a bug, of course, with antenna that acted like wings. Clutched in a huge claw was Sky, I could spot her by her large yellow ears. That was merely a glimpse, mind you, before this beast vanished behind a hillside on the other end of the river.

"Sky!" I called out.

Suddenly, I heard a loud buzzing rushing towards us. I looked and spotted more of these beasts flying toward us at a great speed.

"Get down!" Mark shouted to me. He jumped and forced me to the ground, staying on top of me to cover me. He tried to watch back for the twins, but failed to realize they where both gone. Simultaneous shouts signified they had both been captured by this mob.

Mark got off of me, allowing me to get to my feet.

"Cassy and Cane!" I shouted. "Mark, we can't stay here!"

Mark looked at me in the eye, then began to drag me to the end of the cave. "We must! We can't save them if they catch us too!"

* * *

Flare's POV:

A familiar foe. That's right, I have seen these monsters before.

I stood with by body pressed against the tree, keeping an observant eye out. It wasn't anything new, I was used to seeing Swooping Snitchbugs when I was abandoned the first time. I learned it was best to simply hide and let them pass. Such a large group could have only meant they where migrating.

Finally, the last one past by. I looked back up to the tree, and through the hole where Ember was sleeping.

_"That annoying pest." _I thought. _"I hate that I only have her around. She's a horrible fighter. But I know I must have an ally, in these times of peril. I didn't last time, and I almost lost my life because of it."_

His claws clutched as fists at his sides.

_"I… won't have that again. No." _I said, looking down. It was too painful for me to remember what had happened. It was a painful memory that I had to bear, and there was no way I wanted to keep it in mind.

"…oh… Flare?" a voice asked.

I growled again. "Great."

My eyes met Embers as she fell from the hole in the tree and landed on her feet. "I… want to apologize for last night. It was rude of me to be so selfish like that."

I looked at her and sighed. "I will deal with you later. Though right now, we have to get moving."

I began to walk, not caring in the slightest as if she was still even following. Though surely enough, I heard her little feet proceeding after me. I turned m head to it's side to spot her running to catch up.

"So, what are we going to do today?" She asked. I watched as she swung her fists in the air. "Beat up some beasts? Try to look for all the nectar we can eat?"

I growled and looked ahead of us. "We are going to look for the leaders. It is our duty to serve them, and we will."

"So, where are they?" She asked. "Do you know?"

"…do you have any idea how far we are from the landing site? Besides, they travel to new places every day. Our mission is to follow their paths, and calculate where they will land. We will intercept them and rejoin the group."

"Good plan!" She shouted.

I sighed, trying to let go of my anger. "…we must hurry, those migrating beasts may return."

She gasped. "…migrating beasts?"

A small little smirk appeared on my face as I covered my eyes. "Yes." I said. "Large, evil little monsters are coming."

She gave a squeal and grabbed my arm. "C'mon, we got to run!" She shouted.

I instantly knew I made a mistake. She took off, running and screaming. I instantly began to run with her, because she refused to release the grip on her arm.

"Slow down, you fool!" I shouted.

"Monsters!" She shouted, in a panicked voice, running even faster.

"Ember, stop this at once!" I shouted back in protest.

She didn't let up.

"You're wasting our energy! Stop. We're safe!" I shouted.

She seemed to be slowing down, only because she was exhausting herself. I gave a sigh and pulled my arm back, causing her to release her grip. Finally, she slowed to a stop, breathing heavily.

I wasn't the least bit tired, but she was crouching from exhaustion.

"…that's what you get for being so reckless." I said.

She sighed and slowly got upright. Again, she tried to reach for my hand, but I pulled mine back and took a step back.

"From now on, we are keeping a distance. I don't know how much more I can tolerate of you anyway."

I began to walk again. She was following, but walking slower. I ignored her heavy breathing and looked down. _"Forget her." _I thought. _I swear, if a beast comes and takes her life, it will be too soon."

* * *

_

Tad's POV:

I and Mark stood at the end of the cave, as more and more of these migrating monsters flew past.

"One of the most evil of beasts." Mark said. "Swooping Snitchbugs. They don't kill, but they kidnap a Pikmin and take them far away. Nobody in their colony sees them, ever again. Emotional pain is sometimes just as bad as physical. I don't know what they do with them. Rumors say that these monsters take Pikmin and trap them in the Earth, to make their own gardens."

I sighed and looked down. "I can't let this happen. Sky, and the twins… they are my friends."

I suddenly took off, racing toward the entrance to the cave. Mark shouted and ran after me in protest, though I knew I could easily outrun him. In the spur of the moment, I ran ahead and jumped out of the cave into the air…

I suddenly found myself latching onto the body of a snitch bug. It didn't seem to react, because it didn't notice me.

I looked back down and saw Mark jump and latch on to the same one too. As he grabbed on, I felt it drop in height. Mark was severely weighing it down. He gave a shouted as the lower part of his body dipped into the river, as he kept his arms locked on holding the beast.

I don't think it even realized what was going on, but the Snitchbug panicked and sped off into the air.

I gripped it's head to hold on. Looking back below, I saw Mark clinging to the side of the monster, with both arms and legs. I watched as we arose higher and higher into the air.

It had become a new battle. Holding on as the wind brushed against us was very hard. The rapid beating of it's antenna made me loose my balance, but I managed to gain it back. I could hear Mark calling out for help, though what he was exactly saying was incoherent, over the loud buzzing of the antenna.

From this height, I could see the entire area. It was all grass with a small stream flowing in a swirling pattern into the horizon. Though there was no sign of Pikmin or the leaders as far as my eye could see.

My time in sight seeing had run out. I the next instant, the beat was plunging back down to the world below. It met up with it's migrating friends and began to swerve back and forth between them. It was apparent that the Snitchbug realized something was stuck to it and was trying to shake us off.

I made a shout of alarm as it came very near to a pack. As time passed by, it seemed more and more desperate, because it began to spiral in the air. We both gave out shouts of alarm, trying to hold on as best as we could.

It stopped spiraling and flew very low to the water. It began to lower itself as the fast-moving river brushed against us, like it was trying to wash us off. Mark, stuck to the lower portion, was dragging against the bottom of the water. He gave out shouts for help, but hung on as best that he could.

"Mark, I'm coming!" I shouted. I lowered myself on the beat's side and reached out my hand. Mark gasped and grabbed my hand.

It was about then that I realized just how heavy a purple Pikmin could be. I gave a loud shout as I tried to hold him.

"Mark!" I shouted again. "I can't pull you up, you have to try and help me out here!"

I watched as the purple one began to try and grip it's edges. I felt him let go of the edge and grabbed my back.

I apparently was a sort of ladder now. I have a light grunt as he began to climb on me. With his strength, it didn't take long for him to climb back up. He grabbed me by my leaf and slowly picked me and pulled me on top of the Snitchbug's head.

For some reason, the bug stopped shaking. Perhaps it assumed it had lost us. It was now continuing to follow it's other comrades.

I sighed, finally feeling safe.

"…Mark." I said.

"Tad." he replied. I looked to him. "The Snitchbugs hat took our friends where in this group. I feel that we can ride this one back to their migration spot and get them back."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_I'm sorry for the delay. I hope the next one doesn't take as long as this one did, but I'm going to try and work harder. Please review while I do_


	10. Chapter 10: Recovered Allies

**Author's Notes: **_Sorry for that delay. I'm back with another chapter, though it's a little shorter then I hoped it would be:_

Chapter 10: Recovered Allies

The flight had continued for a while. Mark and I sat on the now-calm Snitchbug.

I tilted my head and looked back at Mark. "…where do you think we're going?"

Mark sighed. "Tell you the truth…" Mark replied. "I haven't the slightest idea."

I noticed he looked lost in thought. "Normally, they wouldn't take their hostages this far. …something is wrong. I can tell."

I didn't know enough about Snitchbugs to be able to understand, but I realized then and there that something was definitely amiss. Of course, I wasn't until later on that I realized just how correct I was.

Mark looked back ahead of us and pointed. "There."

I looked too and noticed what was ahead. There was a hole ahead of us that all of the Snitchbugs where flying into. A strange fog flowed from within the hole… a kind of chilling fog.

"This has to be where they are." I said, peering cautiously ahead of us.

"Agreed." Mark said. "Remember, do not get off until we are sure it's safe."

We both held on tightly as we felt our Snitchbug slowly lower itself into the hole. As we did, I could feel the rush of air as we touched the fog. My leaf was blowing madly, just like Mark's. The next thing to note was darkness. The second we flew in came darkness. At first, my eyes could not adjust to the pure darkness of the cave, though as they adjusted, we could see a strange sight.

A long, hallway-looking pathway was left in the corridor. The second we reached the floor, Mark pointed down.

I nodded in response. We both thrust off the top of the beast. We then soared through the air, before coming to a fall, and an abrupt stop.

There was a loud "BAM" as Mark slammed onto the ground. Instantly, I looked at him.

"Mark." I scolded in a whisper.

"I'm sorry." he said. "I can't help it."

Luckily, we where not noticed. He and I backed into a corner and said nothing. We waited and watched as the swarms of Snitchbugs flew past, like he giant monsters that they where.

It remained so for about another minute. …it would seem as though they would never stop. Though finally, the long line of Snitchbugs came to an end, as the last of them flew down the chamber and vanished into the darkness and fog.

"I think we are safe now." Mark said. "Let's go."

I nodded, before following him into the abyss of the chamber.

As we walked, I could hear the buzzing of the monsters still echoing within the caves. It was an ominous sound. Like beasts, when the breathe down your neck, but you can't see them.

I shivered as I heard the buzzing.

"Try to stay focused." Mark said.

I nodded, worriedly. As we moves, I could still hear the buzzing. It never grew louder, never farther. …it would be a sound that would haunt me, forevermore.

"Keep your wits about you. We have fought far worse battles then this." Mark said.

"A battle is a battle." I replied. "Every time we have one, someone dies. I don't know how much more of that I can take. I mean, we already lost Flare. He was the best, the _best _fighter our group had. Nobody is strong enough to endure."

"We are." Mark said. "Just believe in your abilities, and I know we can get through this without loosing Sky, Cassy, Cane, You or I."

I nodded. "Okay, let's go."

The chamber seemed to endlessly lead into the darkest edges of the cave. It would seem like there would be no end, no finish...

* * *

Flare's POV: 

"I don't like this at all." I said.

There I was, standing, surrounded by a group of Dwarf Bulb-orbs. They where smaller then their parents, but still large.

"We're gonna die!" Ember shouted, clinging onto me.

"Ember, get off me now. This is no time to panic.: I said.

"…but there's five of them!" she shouted.

"Is you don't let me go, I'll feed you to them." I said.

She gasped and let me go. "…please, don't!" She cried out. I could see the tears at her eyes.

Of course I would not have killer her. She was the only ally I had in this time of peril. Still, if would not be able to attack of she never let go.

I jumped ahead, rushing toward the closest of the beasts. I simply jumped and landed on it's head. It screamed as I single-handedly flattened it.

It's brothers and sisters seemed to rush to it's aid, forgetting that Ember was still there.

I jumped from the top of the squished Dwarf to the next one on line. From there, I jumped to the third, crushing it with impact.

"Go Flare!" Ember cheered.

Her cheers suddenly distracted the two other beats. I have an angry growl at her as they approached her.

"Uh oh…" She said, slowly backing off. However, this run turned into a sudden sprint. She gave scream as she ran beyond some bushes and into some tall grass. The Dwarfs shouted and ran after her.

"Darn it, Ember!" I shouted, trying to catch up. "Stop running, right now!"

Surely enough she seemed to have taken my advice. Though I could not see her over the tall grass that I ran into, I saw the beasts had stopped and where both looking in the same direction.

I heard Ember scream, and knew that they where now trying to eat her.

Using all the time I had left, I jumped, then kicked off the edge of the tall grass and sent myself into the air. I landed on one of their heads as I fell back to the Earth, then with an agile move, I quickly jumped onto the next.

Both of the beasts screamed and fell… no more.

I landed on the ground.

"Thanks, my hero!" Ember shouted, trying to tackle-hug me. I growled and dodged her, causing her to fall on the ground, planting her face in the dirt.

"You had that coming." I said. "…how do you expect to win this battle against this world if you keep acting like live bait?"

She groaned and slowly got up. "…why did you run, I just wanted to hug you."

"Love and friendship is for the weak. I long for only one thing, to end these battles and rejoin a better colony." I said. "So save your stupid actions for someone who cares."

I thought I could hear her sobbing a little from behind me, though I paid no interest. I pressed onward. "You can either come with me, or you can stay there and die. You best come, though." I said, though I hated it. "I don't like to admit it, but I can't do this alone. Not again."

She looked toward me. "…Flare, whether you like it or not, I'll always be at your side. You can count on me from now on, I promise."

"I hope so." I said.

Before I had the chance to say more, I suddenly became away of the towering figure in front of me. I huge bulb-orb was standing next beside us, with it's jaws wide open.

Ember squeaked in fright, and jumped to grab a hold of me.

"This must be the mother." I said. "…perfect."

It bellowed and screeched. Ember screamed and shouted as the monster was ready to attack.

All of that noise was getting annoying now, but I knew that it was do or die, because there would be no turning back.

Or so I thought. From behind me, I suddenly heard the sound of a low-pitched bump.

I looked behind me and saw a blow hog, but a smaller one, that had landed on the ground beside us.

"Great, another enemy." I said.

Though to my amazement, this blowhog made no attempts to blow us away. Instead, it tilted on the ground, lowering a fin until it touched the dirt.

"Why isn't it attacking?" I asked.

"Don't you see?" Ember asked. "It wants to save us!"

"What?" I asked.

"I guess you really don't know anything about love after all." She said, before running up the fin and climbing aboard it's puffy body. Before I could protest, she grabbed me and pulled he up on the small blow hog.

We both watched as it flapped it's fins, then began to lift off into the air. The jaws of the other beast clamped shut, but missed us. Before it had the chance to strike us again, we where too high.

Ember slowly fell beside me and bounced on the top of the blowhog. "Whew, we're safe." she said, with a sigh of relief.

I looked down at the ground. "…what makes you think we are. Perhaps this bloated one here is trying to bring us somewhere to get eaten."

"It doesn't have any plans." Ember said. "Look at the small thing, it's just a child."

She smiled and rubbed the top of it's head. "Aw, that's a good little baby. I think she's a hero."

The blowhog gave a small squeak, as if to confirm Ember.

I sighed, and kicked back. "I still don't think we should take things easy though. There are still plenty of battles ahead of us. The two of us alone can't win them all."

"Well, we've got this big one now, don't we?" Ember asked.

My eyes widened at the thought. "We don't even know if we can trust this… creature. How can we take it with us?"

"This blowhog is a she, not an _it_." she said. "Come on, you said you wanted more to accompany you, right?"

Both the blowhog and Ember looked back at me with saddened eyes.

"…you admiration has no effect." I said, closing my eyes. "However, we should keep _it _with us for the advantage of flight."

"Yay!" She shouted.

"Still, we will need to fin some other Pikmin." I said. "Two red Pikmin and a blimp isn't enough to protect us. We will need a blue Pikmin for water areas, yellow for electrical…"

"Just relax for now." she said. She smiled and rubbed the top of the blowhog again, which gave back a content expression.

I looked over the edge and saw the pool of water that was arrived at yesterday, when we all got separated. It was indeed joyous to finally be leaving this place.

As I looked over on it's side, I gasped. On it's right side was a scar, and a large one. I suddenly realized this creature was familiar. It was the same blowhog I let get away a few days ago.

* * *

Tad's POV: 

"There it is." I said.

I saw a huge room. In the end of the room where three flowers, two white and one yellow.

"Cassy, Cane, and Sky." Mark said.

The two of us approached the site.

However, before I could reach them, I felt myself being seized. I looked up and realized that a swarm of Snitchbugs was awaiting us, and that on of them grabbed me. I didn't realize it until now, but their grasp was so very tight. It really hurt, and I knew there would be no escaping it's grasp.

"MARK!" I called out. "Mark, help!"

I didn't hear a reaction, so I wasn't sure is he was captured too or what. I saw it was flying to where the other flowers where growing. In fact, it brought me right above them. It suddenly threw, sending me falling at remarkable speed.

I hit the ground with great and quick force, so fast that my entire body plowed through the dirt. I felt my leaf remained above the surface, but I was trapped.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_Wow, sorry for that unforgivable delay. I hope I'll get the next one up sooner. Please review, in the meantime_


	11. Chapter 11: Battle in the Cavern!

**Author's Notes: **_ARG! I really left this story alone for way too long! Sorry everyone! This time, I gave Mark his own POV, considering Tad is in the ground currently._

Chapter 11: Battle in the Cavern!

Mark's POV:

I know truly figured out just how serious things had become. In less then a day, the five of us had been separated from the mothership. Then, Snitchbugs come and kidnap everyone. I couldn't believe it at the time, but I was completely alone to try and defeat this entire hive of monsters. Oh, what mess.

"…So, you lot want a piece of me?" I asked. "…I'll just let you know, I'm not the most merciful of Pikmin."

They didn't seem to care. It took them only a second before they all suddenly lunged right toward me. I knew that if they would ever lay their hands on me, it would be all over.

I took an immediate right. Though my speed was reduced due to my new size, I was able to make a quick lunge.

As I landed back on the ground again, I made a small little earthquake.

They all shook in the air for a moment, a bit startled by how I was able to make such a harsh landing.

It was unbelievable. I was already starting to get a bit tired.

"…This won't work." I said instantly. "…My best chance is to get my friends back on their feet. …but how?"

Before I had more time to contemplate, I jumped and dodged another attack. These monsters were quite relentless.

I made sure that this time, I would have remained safe. Making sure I would not be captured would be no small feat.

There was a quick battalion of the flying monsters all headed toward me. I ducked and let myself fall to the floor. As I hit the ground, I made another Earthquake. The startled Snitchbugs all seemed to lose their focus for a second.

I watched as another Snitchbug was dive-bombing right at me. I have a gasp and closed my eyes. I suddenly rolled on the ground, just in time to avoid the attack of the Snitchbug. The one that tried to attack me instead hit another one. Both of them crashed and fell to the ground in a daze.

This was for a good distraction of the other flying beasts.

I slowly got back to my feet. "…oh great." I thought, shaking my head, making sure that my leaf was cleansed of any dirt. "…I still need to get the others out of here as fast as I can."

I sighed, and gave a peak over toward my friends, who still remained trapped in the ground.

"I better get going." I said.

Though it seemed speaking aloud was the wrong thing to do. All of the Snitchbugs looked back at me and raced toward me.

"Oh, brilliant." I said. With that, he let myself drop to the floor a second time.

This time, my little earthquake managed to shake them up quite a bit. Two of them managed to hit one another. One of them hit the floor, while another one seemed to simply fly low.

"That's it!" I said. I rushed ahead, running strait toward the fallen Snitchbug first. As my small purple feet hit the top of the fallen one, I was able to bounce and land on the next. As I did, I looked back and saw I apparently had flattened the poor thing.

Making a second jump onto the next, I could make it to a higher altitude, like a set of stairs. I had very little time to stay on the top of every Snitchbug, because I was crushing them too strongly. I jumped on the next one in line, and then the next after that. It was then that I was very close to the spot in the cave were my friends were buried. I jumped off the next Snitchbug and landed with a strong thud right next to them.

As if on impact, I had shook the ground so hard, that there was a series of pops. I looked to my left and spotted that all 4 of my friends had shot back out of the ground, all landing with a crash. Poor little Tad and Sky were wobbling their heads, and the twins were both wobbling themselves to and fro.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly. "..um, are you guys ok?"

Tad was the first of them to get back onto his feet successfully. "You got us out! Thank goodness. Did you beat up those Snitchbugs?"

I turned around and saw the Snitchbugs that I hadn't flattened coming toward them, seeming to want a bit of revenge.

"I see." Tad said. At the same time, Sky and the twins were getting back up.

"What'd we miss?" Cassy and Cane asked at the same time.

"Not much." I said.

"We got to get out of here." Sky said, spotting the Snitchbugs behind me.

"I just remembered!" Cassy and Cane said at once. "As we were getting flown in, I saw a geyser on the other side of the cavern."

"Ok, but how do we reach it without these flying menaces getting us?" Sky asked.

"Follow us!" Cassy and Cane shouted.

I watched as the two little white Pikmin bolted out of the area and down a small pathway. Sky followed immediately after, and Tad was behind them. I, being the slowest, was in the rear. I don't think I have ever hated running this much until very recently.

Of course, the very relentless Snitchbugs we're going to let their newfound captives escape. The second that we all bolted, they had decided to rush right on after us. At that point, there must at least 10 of them.

"STOP!" I could hear Sky shout ahead of us.

It hadn't been that long after we first started running that we had to halt. There, directly ahead of us, were about 7 huge monsters: Bulborbs. They had formed in front of the Geyser that was dead ahead.

"But-what are they doing here?" Sky asked, startled.

"Symbiosis." I said simply. "They must be using the Snitchbugs to get food for them, and in exchange, give then bugs a shelter. We're not in a Snitchbug hive, this is a Bulborb's home."

"Great." Tad said. "So the five of us got to beat them all up and get out of here?"

Before we could form our own solution out of this mess, all of the Bulborbs has decided to rush us simultaneously. I decided, since purple Pikmin were the strongest, that I should rush into the front. The center of the monsters had arrived beside me first. I jumped and gave a quick spin. My leaf stem struck the monster.

Up until then, I had under-estimated my strength. The monster actually lifted up into the air, and fell back, knocking over the other two directly behind it.

I stopped my spin and skidded to a stop on the ground.

"Whoa, you're pretty strong now!" Tad shouted.

"No kidding!" Cassy and Cane all shouted at once.

I back for a second and saw that the Snitchbugs were retreating. It seemed they didn't want anything to do with the battle, especially after I had just flattened a series of their kind.

"Everyone!" I shouted to my friends. "These beasts aren't too bright! We can easily take them out if we land on their heads, those are their weak spots!"

"Got it!" Tad said. "Now everyone! Sky need to do the jumping, she's best suited for it. Mark, give her a boost. If she gets in danger, Cassy and Cane can speed in there and bail her out. Mark, after you throw her, throw me next!"

"Right." I said. I got down and held out my large, purple hands. Sky rushed and landed right on them. I lifted them up hard and thrust her into the air with all of my might. I could hear sky shout in surprise, for she hadn't expected to be thrown so high up. It would take a few seconds for her to return back down to the ground.

In the meantime, I realized that another Bulborb was running toward us. I took a single step back, and watched, pretty fearlessly. That big nasty monster approached me, and looked as though it were ready to swallow me whole.

But of course, that was never to become real. In the following second, a yellow streak fell and hit the top of the Bulborb. It gave a loud scream and slowly fell on the floor, until the monster had been defeated.

I looked back at Sky, whom had done the attack. She looked quite content with herself. Perhaps it was the fact that she hadn't been fighting too often. Well, either that, or she simply wanted revenge.

She jumped back upward and threw herself onto the top of the next Bulborb's head. She had failed to hit it's weak spot, so it began to thrash as soon as she had landed on top of it. She gave a gasp.

Cassy and Cane almost immediately sprung into battle. They both hit the beast at the same time, causing it to fall over. Sky let go and let herself land on the ground. She jumped back up into the air and landed right on the top of next Bulborb. As she did, she had cleared a path for the geyser.

"Come on!" She exclaimed. She led the way, though Cassy and Cane soon caught up. Tad was right after while I was last in line. Thankfully, the geyser was unblocked. We all stopped at the side of the shooting water together, all nodded, then thrust ourselves into the jet stream.

Instantly, we all shot up following the current, flying up and up and up, toward a hole. As we all shout out of the hole, we found ourselves up on land again. The light of the sun took us by surprise, so we had to shield our eyes as we landed back on the grassy grounds.

"…whew, that was close." Tad said.

* * *

Quite a few hours had passed since that moment. The sun was shinning above us as we walked alongside the water. 

"…so then, that was quite unexpected." I said.

"We're all seriously lucky we weren't eaten." Sky said. "We need to prepare ourselves better for upcoming battles."

"What we faced was nothing compared to what's coming." Tad said. "I suggest we find some shelter, because night's going to fall soon."

"Agreed, Tad." Cassy and Cane both said.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** _That's the end of that little skirmish. Comming up in future chapters will be quite a few twists. Please review in the meantime._


	12. Chapter 12: MASTER II

**Author's Notes: **_Honestly, I thought this was the last fanfic I'd be updating. Though I decided, since it's been nearly a full year, that this story deserved something. Who knows, maybe it will pick itself up again? Not entirely sure. But anyway, enough about that. I hope you enjoy this extremely late chapter!_

Chapter 12: MASTER II

Tad's POV:

I was surrounded by nothing but darkness. It was mesmerizing, reminding me of back when I was a but a sprout. I shook my head to look around, but to no avail. I remained here, floating in the vastness of space. I rubbed my eyes with my hands, and looked again. This time, I could see stars. Lots of stars.

Before me, I suddenly saw something pierce the darkness. It looked like a shooting star at first. I blinked and looked one more time. This time, I realized what it was. In the vastness of space, even though far away, I knew that one anywhere.

"…master?"

Sun shone again. I opened my small little eyes, but only a little bit. You know how it is with the sun, if you look at it too closely, you'll hurt your eyes. Granted it didn't harm Cassy and Cane too much. I have no idea what things look like behind those weird, beady red eyes.

I yawned and stretched as I got up. Blew in front of my, to let my leafy head-stock move out of my face. Yes, it was still a lead, but I didn't mind it anymore. I'd take a leaf over a flower anyway.

"Aw, good morning!" Cassy and Cane both shouted at the same time. I looked and them and smiled. "Good morning!"

They had surely gotten back to their normal selves since the cavern. I could tell they still seemed a bit shaken, but I wasn't too worried.

Sky seemed to be up as well. She was dreamingly peering out of the knothole, in the grand on tree we had taken shelter in for the day. It was a spacious, circular chamber. Nice and empty, just how I liked it. It sort of reminded me of the Onion.

Mark was still asleep though. He had gotten a little lazier nowadays. It's been a full year since the Snitchbug Incident. We hadn't been hurt too badly since, so he's been more relaxed lately.

I got on my stubby little feet too, and began walking towards the others. Though on second thought, since Cassy and Cane were too busy talking with one another, It was just me and Sky.

"Hey Tad." Sky said to me.

I tilted my head a little. "Sky, you sound kinda sad."

She looked back and me and gave a small smile. "Oh, um…"

"What's wrong?" I asked her, sitting down beside her.

"I don't know." She replied. "Since we got lost from the Onion, and the masters… I don't know, I've just been thinking. I mean, what do we do now?"

"Do now?" I asked. I admit, I really hadn't thought too much about it. I mean, eat, survive, isn't that what life was all about?

"I need a purpose." Sky said. "I don't know… just, I feel like there's something I need to do."

I starred for a minute. "Like what?"

She shook her head.

"Um… we can go and get some fresh berries!" I suggested. "I'm sure they're nice and fresh this time of year!"

She looked as though she were to reply, though she was quickly silenced. There was a loud, piercing whirring noise. We both gasped, covering our heads to block out the noise, wincing at the headache we were getting.

"What is that?!" She shouted over the whirring noise.

I decided to take a look. I crawled over to the edge of the knothole, and simply gazed downwards.

And there it was! This enormous, spinning blade. A long chain, that ran across the blade was spinning rapidly, causing the whirring sound. But that wasn't the scary thing at all! He really scary thing was what controlled it. I saw it, a huge monster, the size of the tree itself. It had long, 5 fingered hands that held the device (5 fingers is insane!!), and arms that reached as far away as a branch! It had a figure, sort of shaped like a pikmin, but more monsterish. It was had some unusual body patterns too. It had a red and black striped coloring on it's torso, while it's legs were of a blue coloring. The feet were black, and the arms and face were a beige coloring.

"Monster!!" Sky and I shouted at the same time. By this point, Cassy and Cane had run up to us, both gasping at the same time. Mark had just sprung up, screaming like waking up from a nightmare.

"We're under attack again!" Mark shouted.

The entire tree began to shake wildly now, throwing all of us down on our backs. My head landed on my leaf (if you had any idea how painful that is, you'd cringe), causing me to yell a second time.

"What is that monster doing?!" Sky shouted.

"It's… it's attacking the tree!" Mark replied. The five of us returned to the knothole, to peer at the monster again. We could hear a horrible sounding screaming noise as the saw began searing deeper and deeper into the tree.

"No!" Sky shouted. "Stop, don't hurt the tree!"

The tree suddenly began tilting downward. It was hopeless by now, as the trunk had broken enough for it to come in two. Our part, the top half, began it's slow, ominous tilting.

There was a sudden jolt. This time, we all lost our footing. One by one, to our dismay, we all began falling downwards, right out of the hole. I looked down and realized that we had a very long fall.

Directly below us was the very same blade that was slicing the tree apart. We only had a few seconds until we'd meet the killer. I was spiraling through the air, so I wasn't able to see what the full situation was.

However, I then heard a complete slicing sound. The blade had perfectly sliced through the tree, moving out of the way in just the neck of time. We continued to fall, past the blade.

Finally, we came to a sudden halt. The surface of our landing spot was rubbery, making us bounce back up when we hit it. I must have bounced on it several times, before finally coming to a stop.

We all shook out heads, lying down on this new surface.

"Where are we?" Mark asked.

I looked down, only to stare, wide-eyed. We had landed on the monster's enormous, black left foot. I looked back up, and saw just how imposingly large this creature was. We all watched as the tree fell down beside him. He put down the huge blade that had murdered our tree, and wiped his hands off.

"_That was a good day's work." _I heard it spoke, but in a weird language. I didn't know what it was, but it clearly sounded different to how our masters talked before.

Suddenly, his foot began to move upward. We all braced ourselves as the foot rose, and rose, and rose… then fell again.

Cassy and Cane looked at one another, then back to me. Mark seemed worried, but continued to hold on firmly. I had realized we were traveling quickly, but to where

* * *

Flare's POV:

I had grown tired from a hard-night's work. I was resting on a white flower, just large enough for him to rest comfortably. The sun was rising over the dew-coated garden slowly.

Nearby, in an even smaller flower nearby his own, another red Pikmin rose from her slumber.

"Ah… good morning." Ember yawned quietly.

I moaned a faint "hello" and wove my arm as I prepared myself for rest.

"Going to sleep already?" She asked, with a somewhat disapproving tone.

"Yeah." I said back. It was true: it had been an extraordinarily long year since we lost our master. Ember had tagged around with me since. She's an attention addict, always going on and on about everything. She seemed to be a bit less perky, but still the same old Ember.

I watched out of one eye as she jumped out of the flower and landed on the ground. She stretched her arms outward, as if to greet the day.

"I'm going to go get us some nectar." she said.

I didn't respond. She didn't seem to notice that I was tired. Training was so hard last night. You would be surprised how many freaks and monsters roam around here at night. But it wasn't all bad. During the last year, I have become nocturnal myself. I figured we'd be able to survive better this way, with taking shifts. Though even after I told her all of that, she still _insists_ on talking so much when I'm asleep.

This flower, the one I was trying to sleep on, was exceptionally rough. I figured that I'd be better off taking her flower, since it looked a bit less rugged.

I checked again to make sure we wasn't paying attention. Then, when the coast was clear, I got up. With a strong, more improved amount of strength then before, I jumped from my own flower. I landed, perfectly by the way, onto her, unoccupied flower. I gave a satisfied grin then fell backwards and landed on my back.

As I lay down, in preparation, I allowed my eyes to wander off. I noticed a couple of small trees standing next to each other. There was an odd, glowing light standing on top of one of the tree branches.

This caught my immediate attention. I slowly got back up and looked carefully. The night was moving, and appeared to be on the top of a stem-like thing. Beneath the night, I noticed a pair of beady eyes looking back at me. The eyes of a comrade. A Pikmin. It's stock supported a strange leaf. One that was glowing brightly.

"Hey!" I called out to it. "What are you looking at?!"

The odd Pikmin ducked and disappeared behind the tree. It had moved too quickly, though I hadn't had the time to see exactly what it was.

I groaned and got up. I had no intrest in what it was. Something was clearly watching us. I don't like to be spied on, that's for sure.

"Ember!" I called out. "I'm just going to check something, I'll be back."

"M'hm!" she said, waving at my with one arm, busily tending to harvesting some nectar at the same time.

I turned around, and bolted towards the trees. I decided then and there that my onlooker would get a piece of my mind.

* * *

Tad's POV:

Our entire group was shouting in fear. Granted the size of the giant though, I doubt he actually heard a word we were saying.

"_I'm home!"_ shouted the giant. We all watched as he reached his two enormous arms downwards, towards his foot. We all shouted and jumped off it's surface, landing on a new, wooden ground.

We all took a look at the scenery for a moment. I seemed like shelter of some kind. All of the rock formations and wooden patterns made perfect angles though. This place was huge. It was unnatural. It was unsettling.

THUMP! THUMP! Thump! Thump. Thu….

We could hear it walking away from us now, probably to travel deeper into the shelter.

"W-what do we do now?" asked Cassy and Cane at the same time.

"We get out of here!" Mark shouted. "Before that thing comes back!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**_ Just to take it clear, they hitched a ride into a suburban house. But where they exactly are, and what will become of them in this unsettlingly large place is without certainty. More on the way, but until then, please review! And again, sorry for the extreme lateness._


End file.
